


they watch you at your hearth

by m3owww



Series: maribat [11]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Maribat - Fandom, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Court of Owls, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Dick Grayson is a Talon, F/M, I'm obsessed with the court and this is the result, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng is a Talon, Minor Character Death, because the flying graysons fall, no beta we die like robins, the violence is canon-typical because it is the court of owls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:28:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27617654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/m3owww/pseuds/m3owww
Summary: He had sworn that she would obey the Court. She had declared that she never would.The girl’s voice held so much conviction that Talon almost believed it.He would have, if he had not spent the last week watching her break.
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Dick Grayson, the beginnings of it anyway - Relationship
Series: maribat [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1842979
Comments: 10
Kudos: 76





	they watch you at your hearth

**Author's Note:**

> this will be the start of a series of interconnected oneshots, because I'm in love with this idea but I don't feel like committing to another multi-chaptered fic lol.

The night the Flying Graysons fell, a boy screamed as he watched his parents hit the ground.

The night the Flying Graysons fell, a man hurried into the ring, determined to not let the boy be like him.

The night the Flying Graysons fell, the boy’s great-grandfather saw an opportunity.

The night the Flying Graysons fell, the boy was too disoriented from grief, his heartbeat ringing in his ears, and did not resist when he was whisked away.

The night the Flying Graysons fell, Bruce Wayne was too late.

The night the Flying Graysons fell, their son entered the Court of Owls for the first time.

The night the Flying Graysons fell, he became the Gray Son, and soon, he would not be able to hear his heartbeat anymore, no matter how hard he tried.

One day, a few years later, the Court noticed an opportunity to make a great Talon.

A girl in red studded with black spots, graceful in her leaps and a brilliant, strategic mind.

The Court’s network and resources were vast, stretching far across the ocean.

It was laughably easy to deduce her identity.

When Marinette Dupain-Cheng was fourteen years old, she was taken from her home in the middle of the night by two creatures with glowing golden eyes.

One of them was a boy that couldn’t be much older than her.

She was defiant, at first. Cobb tells Talon that they always are.

He crouched with Cobb, pale fingers hidden by golden gloves with lethal claws, in a hidden alcove above the girl as she stumbled through the maze.

Talon had no concept of time. Upon waking up with golden eyes and black blood and no memories except for what Cobb and the Court told him, he learned that he could not tell the passing of time.

He was told that the prospective Talons are forced to wander the Labyrinth and fight for a week.

Beneath them, another Talon leapt from the shadows, claws outstretched, aiming for the girl’s throat.

Despite her obvious exhaustion, the girl ducked and rolled, coming up to flip the Talon over her shoulder and slam them into the ground, hard.

The problem with Talons, however, was that they were nearly unstoppable. The Talon got up again, a swift and deadly shadow. The girl let out a single sound, almost like a whimper, and Talon tilted his head every so slightly. It was a sound of pain. For some reason, Talon did not want the girl to be in pain.

The girl’s blue eyes (he had blue eyes once, he thinks) hardened into steel, and then she snapped the Talon’s neck.

Obviously, it was not enough to keep the Talon down permanently, but the girl had demonstrated her ability to end a life.

Next to Talon, Cobb dropped down to congratulate the girl, who looked up at him with a glare even as she seemed to be on the verge of tears.

Prospective Talons were supposed to fight for a week. Talon had no idea what day it was.

He suspected the girl didn’t, either.

The girl made it through the week. Talon is not surprised. She was strong and capable of defending herself against them, even when they had all the advantages.

When she had first entered the maze, she had spit at Cobb’s feet. Talon had watched from above, ordered to stay there, as Cobb yanked her by her hair and forced her to look up at him. He had sworn that she would obey the Court. She had declared that she never would.

The girl’s voice held so much conviction that Talon almost believed it.

He would have, if he had not spent the last week watching her break.

When she exited the maze, Talon was standing with Cobb, as he had been ordered to. Her hair was matted and her skin pale, covered in grime and dust and dirt and blood, both the black blood that Talons bled and her own. Her blue eyes were wild, though they focused on him for a moment before widening almost imperceptibly in recognition.

Talon remembered helping Cobb take her. How she fought and kicked and moved so elegantly, with so much power in her small frame. How it wasn’t enough, and Talon had knocked her out with a strike to the back of the head.

He watched, as the girl knelt with shaking limbs, too thin, too pale, before Cobb, and swore allegiance to the Court.

A little while later, he would see the girl again, with pale skin and black veins and golden eyes just like him. She would look at him with eyes that were both sharp and dull, calculating and empty. He would return the gaze.

Talon would meet Talon, and they would both serve the Court.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on [tumblr!](https://m3owww.tumblr.com)


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